Saturday, August 19, 2017

Sammy Miller's Museum pt4

The final few pictures from a recent visit to Sammy Miller's museum in Hampshire. Do yourself a favour and visit if you can, it's the finest collection of technically interesting, unusual and rare motorcycles anywhere.

Truly gorgeous 1913 BAT TT Roadster model
fitted with the legendary JAP '90 bore' 1270cc
ohv motor.

1911 Western Star. An Australian brand fitted with a Coventry
made Arno motor.

East German IFA flat twin two stroke 350cc. IFA went on to
become MZ.

The one-off Hawthorne four. A straight four motor in an OEC
duplex steering frame.

Close up on the Hawthorne 4's power plant.

1923 Sheppee Cyclaid. Made in York and in many ways ahead
of its time. The Cyclaid pre-dated the autocycle boom of the
late thirties by 15 years. The bike was the most successful machine
of the immediate post WW1 first cyclemotor boom.

Can't help but think that handling must be interesting
with all that weight on the front. You wouldn't want
to wear your best shoes or trousers either with all
that 1920s two stroke exhaust guffing out by your feet.

A 1948 Tandon. Tandons were the brainchild of Devdutt
Tandon, a gentleman born in India and living in the UK. Tandons
were made in Watford and were initially designed to be rugged and
cheap machines for export to India. The export market plans
did not go as well as expected but Tandon did continue and went
on to produce a range of slightly more sophisticated machines,
all using Villiers engines, that were notable for having rubber
in compression rear suspension.


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